Jungle Action #6-18 Panther's Rage is an epic story filled with suspense, conflict, horror and triumph. It is the story of T'Challa's return to Wakanda after years with the Avengers and how he must battle forces both within his camp and on the fringes of his domain to keep his rule. T'Challa has brought his American lady love, Monica Lynne, to Wakanda. This causes great controversy among his people, many of whom shun outsiders and find it insulting that their king would consider marrying a heathen outworlder, a woman who hasn't the slightest inkling of their customs and their ways. Monica alienates herself even further when she interrupts the periodic ritual that gives T'Challa his powers. Unfortunately, T'Challa doesn't have the luxury of winning over his people. Problems arise within Wakanda's borders when the rebel leader, Erik Killmonger, of the Wakandan village of N'Jadaka, razes a small fishing village for little reason other than to stir things up. T'Challa dons the ceremonial garb of the Black Panther and seeks Killmonger out only to be deftly handled by the rebel and tossed over Warrior Falls, apparently to his doom. Floating nearly lifeless down the River of Grace and Wisdom, the Panther is recovered by Monica and healed at his palace. Determined to defeat the rebels, he doggedly goes after them again. The Panther discovers that Killmonger's troops are mining vibranium in a secret cavern beneath Warrior Falls. In the process of foiling the mining operation, the Black Panther defeats and imprisons one of Killmonger's headmen, a snake charmer known as Venomm. Venomm is nearly liberated shortly after by the female assassin, Malice. The Black Panther soon discovers, however, that Killmonger has lieutenants all over the Wakandan countryside, ready to strike terror into its citizens. Playing upon tribal superstition, one such lieutenant, Baron Macabre, commands a "Death Regiment" of soldiers who disguise themselves as zombie-like creatures. Macabre murders an innocent farmer by the name of M'Jumbak, who is survived by his wife, Karota and son, Kantu. The death of this man greatly troubles the Black Panther. While contemplating the insanity of the murder as he sits next to a river, the Panther is attacked by a ferocious crocodile. After a great struggle, he manages to defeat the reptilian beast. This is a recurring theme of "Panther's Rage," these battles with animals and beastly creatures. Prior to the croc, the Panther was called upon to slay a raging rhinoceros before it could kill Kantu, the son of the slain M'Jumbak. The Panther's frequent battles with nature communicate the ferocity of the land and the nearly constant danger he must face. Seeking justice in the matter of M'Jumbak's death, the Black Panther sets out after Baron Macabre and the Death Regiment. He discovers the Baron and his troops in a subterranean lair where Wakandan weaponry and technology is being stolen from the adjacent Technojungle. The Baron is defeated and revealed to be little more than a thug in a frightening costume, but a far greater threat emerges in the cavern: King Cadaver, a pustulent and mutated being with the power to telepathically torture his opponents. The Black Panther manages to fight off Cadaver's mental attacks, but the villain manages to escape the Panther's grasp. Meanwhile, Monica is framed for the murder of Zatama, one of T'Challa's constabulary. While the Wakandan people are quick to condemn her, T'Challa sticks by her side and helps to clear her name. As it turns out, she was framed by Tanzika, a chambermaid who killed Zatama as vengeance for shunning her affections. The Black Panther takes to the offensive shortly thereafter, rallying his troops for an attack on N'Jadaka. The attack is swift and brutal. The horror of war sweeps over the Wakandan troops. Taku, communications officer and right-hand man to T'Challa, takes leave of his normally demure persona and avenges the death of an innocent child, killed in the battle. W'Kabi, long spoiling for a fight, is repulsed by the reality of war but relieved to see his chieftain taking bold action against Wakanda's enemies. The Black Panther's forces defeat Killmonger's troops, though Killmonger himself is nowhere to be found. After interrogating two prisoners for information on Killmonger's whereabouts, the Black Panther journeys to the Land of the Chilling Mists where a myth-like place called the Resurrection Altar is purported to be. There he discovers its clandestine location and finds Killmonger, King Cadaver and Sombre, the high priest of the Resurrection Altar. The cavern in which the altar is located is described as having been created by a "blazing comet." The rays of "distant stars" are said to emanate from the fissures beneath the altar. The energy of these rays is said to have the power to give men great powers. Many men die in the process, but those who survive become members of Killmonger's superhuman army. The Black Panther is defeated at the altar and left to die on snow and ice-covered mountain wastes. He defeats a pack of wolves and begins a long descent into the valley below. Tracking the enigmatic Sombre, the Black Panther comes face to face with creatures he thought existed only in myth: the white gorillas! Sombre exhibits mystical power over these 12-foot tall apes and commands one of them to slay the Black Panther. Already wounded during his fight with the wolves, the Panther struggles in the battle but manages to defeat a gorilla and demoralize the rest of their number. Sombre flees the scene but the Panther tracks him and inadvertently causes his death when he allows him to drown in a pool of quicksand. Tattered and scarred to the bone, the Black Panther is attacked by yet another of Killmonger's mutated henchmen, an archer named Salamander K'Ruel who uses napalm-tipped arrows and whose boil-covered skin emits poisonous quills. After yet another near-death experience in the maws of a pterodactyl, the Panther manages to survive and then defeats K'Ruel, dragging his body back to his palace in central Wakanda. Healed once again by his herbalist, Mendinao, the Black Panther prepares for the final battle against Killmonger. Venomm escapes from imprisonment, injuring his beneficent jailor, Taku, in the process. Venomm nearly kills W'Kabi as well. The Black Panther pursues Venomm to N'Jadaka and defeats his hordes of snakes with Taku's help. Shortly thereafter, Killmonger masses a force of Death Regiments, superpowered beings and time-lost dinosaurs from Serpent Valley for a final attack on Central Wakanda and T'Challa's palace. The battle comes to a head when the Black Panther battles Killmonger mano-a-mano, once again at the top of Warrior Falls. The edge shifts several times, but the Panther is almost defeated and thrown into the falls again when Kantu, the young boy whose father was murdered by Killmonger, arrives and trips Killmonger, knocking him over the cliff, apparently to his death. Like T'Challa, Kantu lost his father to a greedy villain. Also like T'Challa, Kantu had his revenge. Wakanda lays largely in ruins, trampled by Killmonger's dinosaurs, but T'Challa and his followers begin the rebuilding process. Some two months after the battle, the Black Panther is attacked by Madame Slay, Killmonger's lover. Along with W'Kabi, the Panther defeats Slay and her feline minions, finally ending the conflict. Many Wakandans bear the scars of the war. W'Kabi's left arm, destroyed in battle, has been replaced with a cybernetic prosthesis. The Black Panther also bears battle scars, but the deepest wounds have been inflicted upon his soul.

Writer: Don McGregor Artists: Rich Buckler, Gil Kane, Billy Graham I once read that Ernest Hemingway was fond of William Faulkner's work, but that he wished he could have been Faulkner's manager. Hemingway felt that with a good manager, Faulkner's copious talent could have been molded into something much greater, much the way a professional boxer benefits from a good manager. Don McGregor, at this stage of his comic book writing career could also have used such a manager. The best word I can think of to describe his writing in Jungle Action would be "uneven." At times, McGregor's words are poetic and stirring, unlike anything ever seen in a comic book before or perhaps after. His page layouts were inventive and unique, much like his work on Marvel's Killraven. However, at times he overextends himself. The poetic language sometimes becomes pretentious and burdensome, even confusing, distracting from the story. To a certain extent, you have to consider the times. In the mid 1970's, many comic book creators were trying hard to push the envelope, to establish some legitimacy in a medium that had long been relegated by most as "kid stuff." McGregor's attempts to make his Black Panther stories literary feats sometimes succeed, but also miss the mark on occasion. Comics are a visual medium. When the writing distracts from the story or describes elements which can just as easily be seen in the art, it fails to accomplish its task. Nevertheless, the scope, complexity and detail in "Panther's Rage" are laudable. McGregor and the artists who worked on the story (Buckler, Kane and Graham) created an epic worthy of the King of Wakanda. The Black Panther had never before been given so much depth, so much meaning. "Panther's Rage" reads like the tale of a Greek hero. Like Odysseus, T'Challa goes on great, adventurous and highly dangerous journeys. Also like Odysseus, he faces great opposition and suffers great pain in the process. The settings described by McGregor and masterfully illustrated by the series' artists give the land of Wakanda color and detail like it never had before. Warrior Falls, the Resurrection Altar, the Land of the Chilling Mist and the Serpent Valley are just a few of the many exotic locales that have life breathed into them in these pages. Many of the stories feature back-up sections with maps of Wakanda and blueprints of Wakandan landmarks. It's obvious the creators went to great pains to give the Black Panther's world the level of detail and complexity it lacked in the past. "Panther's Rage" is a deep and thoughtful story that explores in detail the burden of responsibility that T'Challa bears as leader of Wakanda and chieftain of the Panther Clan. While the quality of the storytelling is uneven and at times even amateurish, it often ascends to greatness. "Panther's Rage" established a new benchmark for the Black Panther and got people believing that he had the depth and power to carry on as a solo character.

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